“Video gamers come from all fringes of society.” Aedan Idres, Head of Ubisoft’s Diversity & Inclusion Project
(Expert voices 1/3): A series of interviews with professionals engaged in pedagogical challenges devised by EDHEC Business School. The experts share their professional expertise, explore the subject of the challenge and discuss their role in this learning exercise.
Aedan Idres, Head of Ubisoft’s Diversity & Inclusion Project. Present during the Springboard for Diversity & Inclusion Challenge*, them assisted students in considering the case study presented by Ubisoft. In this interview, Aedan shares his thoughts on developing an inclusive approach in companies and on diversity and inclusion issues within the video-game industry.
Can you tell us about your career at Ubisoft?
I’ve been working at Ubisoft for over five years. I began in game production and notably worked on Beyond Good and Evil 2. I then became co-manager of French Queer Bureau, an in-house initiative geared to ensuring the well-being, inclusion and safety of LGBTQIA+ people. And for more than 18 months now, I’ve headed the company’s Diversity & Inclusion Project, with a particular focus on disability and the diversity of origins.
Why did you choose to take part in EDHEC’s Springboard for Diversity & Inclusion Challenge?
As a human resources professional, I believe it’s vital to go out and meet students – who might become our Ubisoft employees of tomorrow – to understand how they perceive diversity and inclusion issues. Each year, we present them with a case study, which they then respond to by proposing original solutions that feed into our in-house thinking on the subject. In addition, from an institutional standpoint, it’s useful to co-build projects with schools that incorporate diversity and inclusion into their teaching. This stance is in no way as widespread as you might imagine.
How can future managers incorporate diversity and inclusion issues into their professional practices?
The key is to be open to others: being interested in each person’s background, reading, attending conferences and informing yourself through various media. During the Challenge, I noticed that many of the students taking part were not French speakers. Being surrounded by people with different origins and experiences provides an opportunity to better understand diversity. It’s also the reality of the situation at Ubisoft, where 65 nationalities are represented and close to 40 languages are spoken.
A piece of advice I often give to students looking for an internship, a work-study contract or a first job is to type into a search engine the name of the company they’re looking at, followed by the words "diversity and inclusion". This allows them to see if the company is active in this sense and to assess its HR policy.
Why are diversity and inclusion major issues in the video-game industry?
Video gamers come from all fringes of society. This diversity must be represented in the characters and the stories the games relate. One of Ubisoft’s aims is to tell stories in which gamers can recognise themselves. For a long time, the industry catered to a mainly male and western audience, but other points of view are emerging. More inclusive games, like Rainbow Six Siege or Assassin's Creed Shadows, are proving successful with the public.
Can you share an example of success originating from your diversity and inclusion initiatives at Ubisoft?
I currently lead workshops to assist managers in their annual assessments of employees with disabilities or those who have returned from long-term illness. They often ask me: “How can I assess these employees more fairly? What criteria should I use?” The objective is to avoid all discrimination and banish clumsy sentences like: “Despite your handicap, you do a very good job.” These words seem to be well-meaning, but they’re painful to hear. These training sessions are in great demand with our managers and the number of enrolments has increased constantly.
* The Springboard for Diversity & Inclusion Challenge is a one-day initiative geared to raising Pre-Master students’ awareness of diversity and inclusion issues. Organised by the School’s Diversity & Inclusion Chair, this pedagogical challenge offers students the chance to work on case studies focused on inclusion at work and which are presented by the companies partnering the Springboard initiative.
To find out more:
Gender stereotypes in video game narratives
